Birth of the Huntress
by VanG Ziggy ZA
Summary: A two part story dealing with how June went from an innocent seven year old girl to one of Aang's greatest bounty hunters of all time
1. Chapter 1

BIRTH OF A HUNTRESS

_**Ziggy's Corner: And this brings my Avatar the Last Airbender Fanfiction total to six stories! I guess I really am an Avatar writer at the moment. Anyway this is a two part story, chronicling how June, the bounty hunter from Episode 15, became what she is. Honestly how could a true fan not write a fiction with either her in it, or about her, she smart, strong, sassy, and HOT! I wouldn't grumble too much about her hunting me down, I can tell you that! Lol. Anyway feel free to review and let me know what you think!**_

June was only seven years old when the day of the big fire came to her village. A skirmish had broken out just outside of it between Earth Nation rebels, and a large battalion of Fire Nation soldiers. People were running around, screaming and trying to hide in their homes. June felt someone pick her up under the arms as a mount raced by, and she looked up in time to see her father, blood splashed against his normally strong and handsome face, racing ahead, and shouting instructions to his fellow villagers to flee from the carnage that was ravaging their rural life. Many of them listened to him, an equally large amount of people totally ignored him, rushing to what they believed was safety, only to find it a burning inferno of flames.

"June, keep your head down little one," his father said, his voice warm and tender.

"Daddy, what's going on?" her eyes were wide with white hot terror.

"War darling, war," he sighed. "I never thought it would ever come to our village, but even daddies can be wrong I guess." He lowered his head in shame and sighed. "We have to get you out of here."

"But what about mommy, and Kuzu?" she asked, her eyes filled with tears. She looked back, despite her father's warning, hoping to catch a glimpse of her mother with her long black hair, or her favorite doll.

"I'm sorry darling," he said, his voice growing weaker as their mount raced passed the village. "I wish I could say that they're coming behind us, but mommy is gone. She's dead."

That was the first instance of heart break that the girl suffered in her life. She expected her heart to pound, for tears to roll down her cheeks, but for some reason they would not come, it would not make a blimp on radar. True her lips quivered, and she shook her head, but her father was not a liar. Not once had he ever tried to pull the wool over his daughter's eyes. He had wanted her to experience life as it was, not smooth it over. That seemed awful to his neighbors, but her father had seen too much heartache in children's eyes when the reality was covered up by their parents during this time of war.

"No," was the only word she managed to let slip through her lips.

"I wish it weren't so, darling," he said, fighting his tears. "But our house was destroyed by a bolder, the Earth Benders tried to throw at the Fire Nation." His heart was angry, he hated this war, he hated how it had taken everything dear from him, and he wanted to hate the Earth Nation for fighting the Fire Nation this close to such a neutral village, but he could understand why they had done so, the element of surprise. That didn't make it any easier for him to swallow though.

They raced through the village, and passed the outskirts, faster and faster they went, like the wind. June had tried to push passed her father's arms, to look back behind her, but he must have realized what she had planned, and held her all the tighter, blocking her vision of friends and family laying on a green field, drenched in blood. All she could hear was the cries of those who she had known since she was a baby. Soon that was even gone. One brown eye spied smoke coming from the direction, where her home had been, but that was it. Her life of peace was shattered forever that day. And it only got worse, not better.

"Daddy, what is that over there?" she asked, pointing at a new crop of dust growing closer and closer to their steed. He looked over his shoulder, and she heard him gasp.

"June, hold on tight, the Fire Nation must have seen us flee, and figures we're part of the rebellion." He ground his teeth together and pressed his daughter toward his chest, paying no heed to her whimpers of pain as he held her. There would be no stopping now, the Fire Nation wouldn't possible believe his story of being an exile from the village, fleeing the death and destruction. A normal person in their eyes would have stayed and tried to rebuild their life. Except the truth was, which ever side won the battle, would have used the villagers any way they wanted. And he wasn't going to see his only daughter made a slave.

Faster, and faster they rode, but they couldn't seem to outdistance the Fire Nation soldiers riding on their rhinos. Her father turned his steed eastward, and then darted through the woods, hoping its slender frame would make a perfect defense against the bulky bodies of the rhinos wouldn't be able to get through. He was wrong; the wild beasts used their weight and strength to push down the trees, roaring with terrible, guttural voices. He turned and sped through a path and circled around, but the Fire Nation had expected that too, and had left guards waiting for him there.

His mind was on fire now, his thoughts scrambled as he held onto his daughter for dear life. _What am I going to do?_ There was the dock just southwest of here, but at the rate the Fire Nation was manipulating his movements, he would never make it. He swallowed, his throat burning with the heat and the exhaustion. He decided to go for it, for June if no one else. His daughter deserved a life of peace, and he'd see to it, with all his might, that she'd get it.

The steed groaned and clicked its tongue in discouragement, as June's father swirled it around in circles, looking for the best exit, the perfect path to take. Myukimi might have been a farmer in the Spring and Summer months, but come Autumn and early Winter, he and the other men in the village were also expert hunters. They had to be, there was nothing they had, or could make, or could skin, that could be taken to market, and the nearest market was weeks travel during the colder months anyway. Until this battle had erupted, they hade been survivors, and Myukimi was determined to continue to be one, and to see that his daughter was also strong.

He spied three openings, or what looked like openings in the enemy chock lines, but he knew better, they were decoys, areas the Fire Nation wanted him to go. With the eye of a hunter, he smiled grimly at a seemingly strong barricaded path and chuckled. "That's where we need to go," he told his daughter, pointing toward the twenty armed men on the ground and three armored rhinos.

"Aren't they the bad men we're running from?" she asked.

Myukimi chuckled and nodded. "Yes, but we're not actually going to go _through_ them." He clicked his tongue, and his mount, a tall skinny looking animal that looked like part ostrich, part two legged lizard whirled and rushed as fast as it could toward the barricade. Myukimi yanked the reins just as the animal neared the foe, just as they had turned in startled expressions as he rode up to them, and clicked his tongue again. The beast squawked and crotched so low to the ground, its beak was pushing into the dirt. Another second the animal leapt forward, talons shining in the sun, and jumped over the obstacle, its claws slashing at one of the rhinos who dared come close to it. When it landed on the ground, Myukimi screeched at the top of his lungs, and the animal kicked it into high gear, rushing off beyond the path before the guards could even try fire bending.

They had made it, just as he had hoped. It took the Fire Nation a while to get reorganized, and send its entire search party after him again, and by the time they caught up, Myukimi and his daughter had bought tickets to a ferry, and were sailing upstream, toward the safety of some other town of village, away from the tyrants. The only prize the Fire Nation could claim was the steed that the brave villager had ridden passed them, and then sold for the money to by the tickets. So for the last of their village, June and her father had pulled of the impossible, they had survived. But not for long.

Myukimi and his daughter spent the next few days on board that ferry, doing odds and ends, to earn their keep. June learned how to cook, as well as how to keep a keen look out for any wild animal that might be a threat to the small craft. Her father cleaned the floors, helped with the cooking and proved useful in reading maps.

The problem started on the eighth day, which was dull and gray. The mists surrounding the river were heavy, and it wasn't easy to sail as the wind was just as strong as the tyrannical army they had been fleeing from was. Myukimi had insisted that they find a port, or they try to make land, and camp near the edge of the river until the conditions improved. But the captain was a stanch old man, and set in his ways. It didn't matter how much the exile and his daughter had paid him, or how useful they had been in the kitchen and other matters. The captain was determined that there wasn't a storm, a flood, or anything of the kind that had ever kept him from going to where he had wanted. And this fog would be no different.

"You must be joking," Myukimi snapped. "You might be a talented water man, but not even the avatar could get by this safely.

"My mind is made up," the old man grumbled, crossing his arms. "My crew wants to see the big city just up this stream, and they're going to see it." He smirked and bit down hard on a stone pipe. "It's been years since we've been there, and we all need some rest and relaxation."

"But it's controlled by the Fire Nation," the younger man said. "My daughter . . .," he looked out the window, and sighed with relief at the shape of his child, doing her best in worse conditions for their cause, "and I fled from them. We didn't get on this ferry only to be handed to them."

"It did belong to the Fire Nation, until the Earth Nation kingdom of Usha hadn't conquered it just recently," the captain corrected. "You're not wanted by them too, are you?" Myukimi shook his head.

"Then there is no problem that I can see?" the captain said with an approving smile.

"The weather is the problem," Myukimi insisted. "Look here," he lead the old man to the table where the maps were kept, and pointed on the thin line where they were. "This branch of the river splits off right here," he pointed at the break off point, "and this part here is known pirates and thieves."

"So what is your point?" the old man shouted.

"With the fog and wind like it is, we could actually go off course, and into their territory?"

"That's ridiculous, and I don't want to hear another word about it," the captain growled. He turned and walked out.

It would turn out; Myukimi's horrors would be realized. The captain indeed turned the ferry in the wrong way, and within twenty minutes of sailing up the wrong branch, the crew began screaming out of shock and terror as missiles from long bows were launched at them at all sides. They scrambled for a defense, and tried their best to forestall the eventual fall of their ship.

In the chaos that ensued, blades bashing against one another, metal on metal, men screaming in agony, the smell of blood and water mixing together, Myukimi looked for his little girl. His keen ears cut out the sounds of the battle, the pleas of mercy from the victims and the cruel laughter of the offenders. All he cared about was his daughter. He stole a small knife from one of the fallen pirates, and crawled around the deck, listening for her cries of pain or fear.

Eventually he could hear her whimpers, and made his way toward his little girl. Her body was crumpled over in the fetus position, as men fought and fell all around her. It was the village all over again, and he though he couldn't see her properly, he knew her expression. He doubted that she would be innocent or peaceful ever again. Still he owed it to her to make sure she was safe, and with energy surging through his body, the brave father rushed forward, his hands outstretched to grasp his little girl.

A pirate's blade cut it off, just inches from his prize. Another blade was jammed into his stomach and his blood and bodily juices spurted from him, and splashed her screaming face. She called to him, and reached for his body as he fell, yet though her eyes were sad, there were no tears. She shook her head, and narrowed those darkening eyes as the color drained from his face, and finally the tears came.

"June," he wheezed, "run." They were the last two words he ever spoke to her. She wept over his body, refusing to leave him, even though his words meant everything to her. She closed herself off to the world, and held him tight long until the battle had ended.

She never felt two strong hands rip her from the body of her father, or saw the figure kick his body into the river. The figure who had taken her off the boat was the captain of the thieves who had attacked the ship, and made her a personal slave for the next couple of years. The life her father had wished for her would never come to pass, the daughter he had hoped to see died with him on that small ferry on that windy, foggy day.

June was fifteen years old when the time came for her to escape. As she served her new master, her heart grew darker, but there was a bit of intrigue in her life that she had never dared dream would come true. The tiny, fearful girl soon became a gorgeous creature that all of the pirate crew idolized and worshipped. Of all the slaves of Pier Gri owned, she was the only one who was not constantly abused by the crew.

She was able to use this new attractiveness to her advantages, and seduced many of the guards to allow her to slip out of the camp at night. She entered the many towns and villages the pirates visited during their stay on land, and learned many things about her master, that she found useful.

June would also learn how to sneak through the darkness and watch as her master trained with many type of weapons. One of his favorites was a long, thin whip which he excelled at. June would watch for years as Pier used the weapon, watched him use different techniques, different styles of fighting with it, both offensive and defensive. When she was twelve she once asked her master to train her to use the weapon, claiming it would help her defend the man if he ever came under attack from his enemies or a traitorous crew member. She would never forget the look that came over his eyes that day.

"Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do," he barked at her. His fingers tightened into two small balls, and he leered at her. "How is it that you even know I have a whip?"

"I-I s-saw it in one of your chests," she lied. The truth was the twelve year old girl _had_ seen many weapons in that chest of his, but that's not how she found out about the whip. He growled at her, and landed a strong fist into her stomach, another smacking her across her chin, breaking it for months.

"I should have left you die on that ferry, you know that?" it was only the third time he had ever hit her, and the only time he'd hit her so hard. "Fates know why I took pity on a little snoop like you?" He turned his back and straightened it. "Now get out of my tent and go about your chores," he had roared. "And stop that stupid sniveling. My crew, my servants do not snivel, they do not whimper, they do not cry! They are strong, resilient, _and stone_!"

She never forgot that speech, for it was one of his favorites whenever something got tough for the crew. Some of the pirates said he had sold his soul to demons, for powers unworldly. His eyes were as black as coal, his skin paler than a sheet of paper, and his body though thin and boney was immensely strong! He seemed just like the demons his peers thought he sold his soul to. However he was the only father figure she could remember, though for some reason she always dreamt about clutching a dead man on the small ferry, but as to whom he was, June could no longer remember.

She put up with the indignation and the intimidation for as long as she could remember, and finally, on her fifteenth birthday, she had decided she had enough. Pier had taught her two things in her young life that she had to be strong in this life, to survive in this world. And the second thing she learned was the love of money. True, she had no money of her own, but she decided that it wouldn't hurt to make some. Or take a certain somebody else's.

June slipped through Pier's tent as he slept that night, and smirked, her eyes gleaming at the large stash of gold and jewels the master thief had taken from a town just the other night. She giggled, almost cackled as she tiptoed past her "master" and picked up a small knife which somehow seemed familiar. The girl narrowed her eyes and searched high and low for the booby trap that had to be there, to alert Pier of the intruder. She frowned and brushed her bangs from her eyes and inched closer to the chest.

"I have to say, you've impressed me more than what most of my actual crew ever have," Pier's harsh voice snapped from behind her.

She turned toward him, and just managed to block his arm as he whacked her. It only managed to half strike her, and sent her flat on her back, where he pinned her to the ground. She bit her lips as she looked up at him, glaring at her like a beast. It wasn't the look that many of the men gave her, staring at her body, but like an animal ready to devour her.

"It is such a shame that you've decided to turn on me," he hissed. "If I had known this is the type of life you had wanted, I might have freed you and made you a member of my crew," he shrugged and smiled. "Too bad."

June screeched and grabbed the blade she held and slashed at her master's wrists. He howled like a wolf, and the girl ripped her way to freedom, tearing a bit of his clothing as she darted past him. She looked for the nearest weapon she could find. Her eyes feel on his wipe, and a smile spread across her lips. June darted toward the weapon, snatched it from his wall, and began twirling it in a defensive position.

"Somebody's been staying out long passed their curfew," he snarled.

"How did you guess," she said with a mocking tone.

Pier growled and narrowed his eyes. "You will die for this, girl, slowly, and with a great amount of agony." He turned and called out for his crew to arrive, but by the time he turned back, June had already hacked her way out of the backside of the tent, as was rushing off in the darkness.

She could hear him screech to the heavens, and soon many torches from her former camp site were ablaze in the dark. June swallowed, and thought quickly. There was something familiar about this too, but she couldn't put a finger on that either. All she knew was that her popularity was done at that camp. Pier would have opened all sorts of doors for his men toward her. If she was caught, she wouldn't suffer for a day or two, but for years before she was laid to rest.

Escape was the only option available to her, to get to the closest village or town and ask for sanctuary. Her eyes scanned the paths available to her, her body able to spy things in the darkness that any normal human could. She ran through the bushes and trees, shutting out, half heartily the cries of the men who were heading toward her way, who were branching out in all directions to try and cut the girl off.

An idea popped into her mind, and she smiled thickly. Using the whip she snatched a tree branch and swung upwards, until she was at the top of the tree. Further and further she rushed from the camp, further and further from civilization. Soon she was at a canyon's edge, and was out of options.

It was then she heard a low growl and spun around to see a medium sized animal with large pink nose and no eyes, sniffing the air as it looked in her direction. Its upper paw was stuck in a rock, and it growled at her as she approached. She swallowed, and thought of running, but something seemed strangely calming about this animal. Slowly she edged toward it, and in a soothing voice, "Easy, I only want to help."

The animal growled and lashed out with its tongue, which she dodged as she realized what kind of animal it was. It was a xierxu, and she knew its tongue was paralyzing. One touch and she was dead, not at the beast's paws, but at her former comrades hands. She crept near it, and tried pulling the rock off, dodging the beast's tongue and tail, while she worked. Within time she freed the injured animal, and tossed some small healing berries she always cared in her pouch, and leapt back into a tree, watching as the animal sniffed the food, and then ate it. It sniffed around until it caught her scent and looked at her, purring almost, as if it too had sensed some kind of connection to the girl.

It sat there, despite her urging it to run off, purring. Her heart pounded against her chest as she could hear the men come up the path and walked toward the tree she was in. Life seemed to speed passed her eyes, and she held in a scream. She had to be strong, even if torture and death were just moments away. She could fight with a whip, but hand to hand combat was out of the question. They'd over power her as soon as she grew tired of swinging it.

The xierxu seemed to sense her desperation and howled in raged, leaping at the men and lashing out with tongue, tooth, claw, and tail. It – he, she decided it was a male xierxu, surprised them, but soon enough those not paralyzed were surrounding the animal, blades ready to carve it into a feast.

"No!" was the only word that she allowed slip through her lips. June twirled her weapon and lashed downward at one of the fatter of the bandits. She caught him by the neck, and with strength and speed she hadn't known she had, tossed him up and over the branch, breaking his shoulder, and injuring his neck in the process.

"It's the slave wench," she could hear Pier snarl. "Get her!"

June leapt to the ground, and then onto the back of the animal, both acting as one to cause as much confusion as they possibly could. Tongue and whip, claw and foot stroke pirate after pirate. It was still a losing battle, but June had an idea that might help them escape. She pulled out the piece of clothing that she had torn from her master, and held it to her new friend's nose. "Go for the man with this smell," she whispered.

The xierxu took a long breath of the cloth, and snarled, looking at the captain's direction. With the agility and muscle strength that her old father's mount had, the xierxu leapt over the crowd of pirates, and made a direct hit on Pier's shoulder. The captain went down like a broken statue, and June was quick to hold her blade to his neck.

"Call them off, or you will die," she snarled.

"Bite me, witch," he howled.

"Don't tempt my friend here, he's only had a few berries, and I'm sure he'd love a bit of meat in his belly. Even if it's just the little bit you have on your bones." She smiled as she looked at his terrified face, full of frustration and confusion. "It shouldn't be that hard of a decision if you really think about it," she purred in his ear. The crew was beginning to gather around the three of them now, and it was starting to make the girl nervous.

"You don't have what it takes to do me in, girl," he chuckled. "You're not a cold blooded murderer. And I think I can wait until you're overtaken, or until the paralysis wears off."

June frowned and pressed the blade to his neck harder, "Back off or he's dead!" she roared at them.

"Don't listen to her," he growled. "She won't do it."

A new idea filled her head, and she almost giggled in spite of herself. "Why do you need him anyway? He's paralyzed, beaten. He wouldn't be able to stop you from taking his loot. How much does he really pay any of you?"

"They're loyal," he growled. "They won't listen to treason from the likes of a slave like you, girl."

"My name is June," she hissed. "Not once have you ever felt free to calm me by my name. It was always, 'Come here girl this' or 'Wrench do that'. Now you will have to respect me."

He smirked, or tried to; the paralyzed man could only manage to really twitch his lips. "If you have the guts to do the deed, then I will, girl."

The xierxu was getting nervous, and looked at June, as to ask, "What now?" She decided one last chance to negotiate.

"I could kill him, if I wanted to," she shouted, causing the men to laugh and push in closer. "Or I could leave him here, and not look back, and you could take the treasure, and leave, with him not knowing where any of you have gone. Either which way, the position to be the new captain is there, yes? Or each of you could take a piece of treasure and captain new various groups. If he came after you, sooner or later he'd fall. He's just one man, there's no way he could beat so many of you."

That did it! It presented a look of interest and greed in the men's eyes she had not seen yet. Smiling she continued. "Just think of the humiliation you'd hand him. The great and feared Captain Pier Gri, beaten and embarrassed by a crew he swore to the heavens would never abandon him; left alone, his treasure gone by his own crew's hands, his ship taken. Nothing left but the broken shell of the man he once was."

The captain looked at his men intently, and fear soon began to flush over his eyes. "I'll strip the flesh off any man who tries it," he snarled.

"What will it be?" she taunted, "a dead captain and treasure, or a broken man making idle threats and treasure?"

"Girl, I've never made an idle threat before in my life, and they know it!" His voice betrayed the words. It was quivering, and shaking, as was his eyes. And in that moment of weakness, it was the great pirate Captain Pier Gri who did himself in. His men looked at one another and rushed off, howling like mad men as they went to split up an enormous fortune in loot.

"Just one thing," the girl snapped, grabbing one of the men by the arms. He was one of the more descent men, and she knew he'd honor her request. "You free the rest of his slaves." The man looked at her for a moment and nodded solemnly.

June smiled as the last of them rushed off and then turned to Pier, who howled with despair, anger, and pain, as the xierxu lashed out at him with his tongue again, to keep the paralysis in effect. "Now it looks like you're going to have to respect me," she giggled.

"I'll see you dead for this, girl," he mumbled under numb lips. "Mark my words."

"We'll see," she chuckled. The fifteen year old girl leapt up aboard her new friend, and looked of into the distance. She didn't know what the future held, and in truth she didn't care; just so long as it was exciting and away from here. An old proverb from a village she dreamed about; came racing back to her mind. _Remember the past, and keep your heart in the present. Do not fear the future, for the future never comes. _She smiled again. Whatever lay ahead, she was ready for it.

**_Okay, how did I do with this chapter? Was it good, or was it a lame duck? Anyway I don't own the majority of Avatar the Last AirBender, save for June's father, her village, and the pirates. I also do not own the above proverb; I borrowed it from Christopher Paolini's book, Eldest. I really love that proverb, and I've been dying to use it, and finally found a use for it. So Thank you Mr. Paolini for inspiring me. I'm not sure if I phrased it right, but for you fellow Inheritance Trilogy fans, you should recognize it. Anyway the next and final chapter of this story tells you why decides to become a bounty hunter. I hope everyone who reads this enjoyed it. Review, review, review! By the way, the second and last chapter will come sometime in November/December, as I've said before in my other stories; I don't have direct internet access, and have to rely on my sister's. Anyway I hope you've enjoyed this!_**


	2. Chapter 2

Ziggy's Corner: Okay this is the second and final chapter of this story. I only have two reviews for it, but I suppose two are better than zero! I can now happily say that none of my Avatar stories are reviewer less. The chapter takes place three years later, Jun is now an eighteen year old woman, and has done pretty well for herself in the numerous careers she has taken since parting ways with Pier Gri. So why does she decide to become a bounty hunter? Read, find out, and enjoy!

Three years ago, she thought. It had all happened three years ago, the nightmare ended. Jun still had dreams where the man had pleaded with her to run, where she was just a child huddled in the dark against the pirates' attacks, or younger still, riding with the man, both slipping away from a burning village. Try as she might, she couldn't place that face that haunted her dreams. A year ago she had backtracked, following the images in her mind as if she were reading a map, but there was no town, no village, nothing but burnt wood, a few skeletons of shacks that remained. Perhaps there had been a prosperous village or town here, but it was nothing but slums now.

That was in the past, there was no need to dwell on it. She wasn't a scared little girl any longer, nor was she a whipped, huddling teenager who spied on her master, fearful of getting caught. She had tried her hand at everything and anything that entered her mind, a gambler, a smuggler, a pirate in her own right, burning villages and towns that were unlucky enough for her to come across. She lead a crew of pirates that consisted of men who at one time used to follow her former master's. The tears of children, torn from their parents burned at her heart, and as quickly as she had entered the piracy career, she left it behind.

In her solitude she felt her energies strengthen, and she trained as never before, learning new martial arts that she found from stolen scrolls, or from spying on soldiers as they practiced. Jun had a knack for learning simply by watching. Not only could she learn to fight like anyone she saw, but she also learned that she could copy sounds and was able to imitate any animal sound she came across, or any language or dialect that she heard. She fed herself and her xierxu partner by hunting and occasionally stealing the money they needed to survive.

She lay in her little hunt, flat on her back as she stared up in the sky and sighed. She had the perfect life for a woman of her standing, free, open, no restraints, able to do what she wanted, but there was something that was always striking against her conscious tat she hadn't realized that she still had, until like someone plucking a guitar string, it occurred to her the sounds were not coming out the way that it should have. Stealing, spreading terror had originally appealed to her, but as she aged she realized that she was becoming more and more like Pier than she wanted. That left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked her partner, who simply groaned under his weight. "I should be the happiest girl in the world, but those children's eyes just keep haunting me, and worse. I keep having those dreams with more intensity than ever before."

The xierxu looked up at her and lowered his jaw to the ground, sniffing the strange, intoxicating smells o this night's air. He'd been bonded to her ever since she'd helped him, and found that he had discovered loyalty that had not been known in his species. Xierxus were normally solitary creatures at this time coming together with the opposite sex simply to mate, and further their race. But why he had continued to stay with the girl, even when she struck him with her whip, he couldn't understand. This loyalty just felt right to him, and so he stayed.

"I guess you'd like it if we were normal," Jun groaned, turning on her side. "You living your life in some forest, and me being some cute little house wife and mommy," her words were bitter and gritty. Jun growled, "Not for me, I'll never accept normalcy, becoming something so boring as never to be remembered or to make a difference." The xierxu put a paw on her shoulder and growled under his breath. "You don't like preying on innocent people either, do you?"

She shot up and crossed her bare arms. Her long, black hair, flowed to her back, and covered either the right or the left eye, depending on how she moved. "We're not normal you know. We can't exactly walk into normal places without people glaring at us, or being run out." He looked at her as if to ask whose fault was that, and she sighed.

Narrowing her eyes she looked away. "Okay, I admit we can't keep taking advantage of you children and people who had nothing to do with my suffering," she said sourly. "But we can only hunt for so long, with winter coming up that's not going to be an option for us. So then what?"

The xierxu flared his nostrils, and licked his fur. His partner walked up to him and looked at him in the face, and he could tell there were times that she wished he had eyes, that she could look into. Her lips twitched a little bit, and she stroked her bare arms.

"Okay, I'll keep an ear out for new ways to make money, to get us shelter, but I can't promise anything." She caressed him like a lover, and fell asleep in his warm, thick brown fur.

A few weeks later, after getting paid for a body guard job, she leapt onto her partner, and urged him further to the town, until she came across a small pub, and she tied him to a post near some water. The eighteen year old woman slipped into the tavern, stopping a moment to look at the thick brown logs that it was built out of, the dust on them, and the small insects that crawled up and down the side of the building. She held her sack of gold coins for a long time, and then walked into the dim, smoke filled room.  
The building was square, but the inside seemed to look like a circular ring. There were four levels of rafts, where people leaned over, sat on, drank, smoked, laughed, plotted, and whatever their imaginations were filled by. Jun quickly passed through the dim light and the cold, bitter, dark and found a table to her liking. She sat down, quickly ordered the most expensive bottle of Gjin that they had, and waited for her order.

It didn't take her long to find out that they eyes of the tavern were upon her, and that made her edgy and nervous. If any of them figured out who she was, it would be easy to attack her, and claim the bounty that was on her head. Her muscles tightened as a few of them walked by and studied her, but relaxed as they passed. The waitress handed over a tall bottled of Gjin, Jun paid, and then began pouring herself a glass. With one solid movement she placed the strong, sour smelling orange liquid to her lips and poured it down, ignoring the lava hot fluid that burned her throat and brought tears to her eyes.

"That's a pretty strong drink for such a pretty young lass," a stranger cooed, running his fingers down her shoulders. He was dirty, with not a glimpse of fat on him. His hair was gray brown and his teeth were gray white. "And such an expensive bottle for a girl"  
"Do you like those stubby digits you call fingers?" she asked, pouring herself another glass. Sound seemed to disappear from the tavern as the situation grew tighter.

"I'm sorry?" he asked.

"You're forgiven, now leave," she said, her tone empty.

"You don't like me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, stroking her arms.

"And here I thought you were stupid," she said with a grin. He frowned and looked at his friend who taunted his partner.

"Look cutie, let's get something straight, in this tavern. I'm the boss, and I control everything that everybody does. I know everyone's business, and the money they bring in here is mind, so let's just skip the formalities and get right down to you handling me that bottle of Gjin you were nice enough to buy me, and my friend, and then hand us the bag of gold while your at it. If you play nice, I might decide to overlook this little out burst."

"I suggest you listen to him," the rail thin partner said. "He's a dangerous man."

"You don't say," she said, sipping her Gjin, pretending that neither man was near her.

"He has a bounty of twenty-five hundred gold coins on his head," the partner said, his face twitching. "I personally only have a bounty of one thousand, but I'm working it up."

"How very nice for you, I wish you both the best of luck, no good bye."

This irritated the taller man, and he gripped her wrist, trying to pull her to her feet, but found he couldn't budge her arm from the table. "What in the name of the spirit world?"

"You are getting on my nerves, friend," she said coolly. "If you are wise, you'd leave now." Around the tavern people gasped and slinked further into the shadows. "I won't give you two another warning."

"Look, this is Chung, do you know who that is?" the partner snapped. "He's the strongest member of the Gri Gang."

That got her attention. She looked up at the men and narrowed her eyes. "Gri, you say? That wouldn't be Pier Gri by any chance?"

The two of them looked at her, shocked that she hadn't put two and two together, and back at her. "You know the name, you should know the dread," the taller man said, grinning, his decaying brown teeth flashing at her. "He has a bounty of seventy five thousand."

Her pulse raced, but she decided to stay calm. "So what has he done to earn him a bounty of so much money?"

"You wouldn't be thinking of going after him little lady," the partner chuckled, "are you looking the for a death sentence"  
"You didn't answer my question," Jun said, sipping the last of the Gjin.

"Murder, rape, plunder, burning down villages and towns, even confiscating many weapons from both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom," the taller man said. He smiled and leaned over to look into the girl's eyes. "Now, about our payment?"

Jun stood up, shocking the two men and the patrons for a moment. "Seventy-eight thousand gold coins would go a long way in helping me and my xierxu survive the winter," she said with a crocked smile.

Chung blinked for a moment. "Seventy-eight thousand? Where did you come up with …," it dawned on him, and with lightning reflexes threw a punch at her jaw, which was countered by a kick to the groin, and a round house kick to the head, knocking him out.

The second man blinked and took a few steps back and shuddered. "You shouldn't have done that," he muttered. "Pier won't like it."

"Interesting," Jun said, slipping her whip from her hip and lengthened it. "You have an interesting choice here, fella. You can try and take me on, or you can go warn your boss about me, and inch your chances of staying a free man by a few millimeters.

"Xierxu," someone whispered in the tavern. "Jun, that woman is Jun! The pirate captain!"

"Ex-pirate captain," Jun grumbled. She turned to the man and smirked as she caught his on coming fist in the palm of her free hand. "Ex-slave of the ex-pirate Pier Gri." He swallowed as sweat trickled his forehead. Her fingers tightened on his fist, and he dropped to a knee. "Last chance," she smiled with a primal attitude and twisted his wrist a little, "of course nothing says I have to bring you in perfect state. I could drag you off to my place, and we could have a little, 'fun' for a while. Maybe a little game of scream and tell? You tell me about Pier's operations, or I find ways of making you scream?"

She watched him for a moment, and then let go, as it was obvious what his answer would be. "Tell him that I'm coming for him," she cooed, lifting Chung over her shoulder and flipping a few coins to the manager of the tavern for the damages and hush money. Then she turned to hand over the freak to the proper authorities, and then make her plans to finish the past. 

For weeks she had spent hiding from those who wanted her head, and hunting those with info she wanted. Pier was still out there, still threatening children, killing mothers and fathers, burning homes, just as he had done when she was his slave. Her body tightened as she exercised, jogging in the ice cold winds of late Autumn, preparing for her confrontation. She also trained her partner, and made sure his reflexes were as sharp as a sword just brought out of the fire.

She decided to turn down every other job offer out there, and concentrated on making her money by hunting thugs, bullies, rebels, a few gangsters. With each successful capture, her reputation grew stronger, and the average people began to know that unless they were wanted by the Fire Nation, or if they had broken some type of law, they had nothing to fear from this woman.

As her reputation grew, so did her bounty, at the request of those who she hunted, and she had to practice her stealth techniques. She used mud, waste, what grass she could find, and certain paints to camouflaged both her and her xierxu. He had complained at the added weight of the mud and what not on his fur, but she knew that he'd forgive her.

Just as she trained, she also spent a lot of time following Pier's gang's movements, capturing those that were of little importance, and letting the bloated bellied bosses lead her ever closer to the big boss. It killed her to watch them spread terror, watching them bring tears down the cheeks of countless children, but she had to be patient, even though those nightmares of her own childhood had becoming more and more potent. It was taking a lot out of her, but she was determined to keep working, waiting for the right time to strike.

That time came six weeks after the encounter in the tavern. After beating information out of a stooge, she learned that Pier was planning the biggest gamble of his life, a strike against the most heavily armed battalion of Fire Benders transporting, over half a million in gold. She was tempted to strike them too, the thought of all that money brought her back to her old pirating ways, but then her reputation would be all for naught, and the Fire Lord would have every soldier on the planet after her head.

She could have let the idiot strike the caravan, but she knew he would either die, or get captured, and the thought of losing nearly two hundred thousand gold coins, which was his bounty now, slip through her fingers pushed her ahead with her mission. She waited until she found some of the larger guns of the gang, and then followed them back to the base, waiting for night to strike, and the men to fall asleep.

Jun wasn't a fool. She knew there would be guards up even at this hour. Even if she wasn't out there, other enemies were, and with the stakes this high, Pier wasn't about to let anything foul up his intensions now. Slowly she slipped through the base, scanning each tent for signs of life, and quickly made her way to the next tent, jumping from spot to spot like a shadow trying to flee the light.

Her xierxu was huddled in the dark, waiting for her whistle, so he could charge in and allow her to escape. She felt naked without him, but she knew that she couldn't have barged in there, and successfully captured Pier, an action like that would end up with both her and the animal dead. Jun made her way to the center tent, and slipped through it, a knife in her hand, ready to hold it to Pier's throat, but there was no one here.

"You were always so impetuous," his voice said from the side of her. She turned to meet his large fist, which was resting safely in a steel glove.

"Good night, sweet princess," he cackled as the lights went out. 

The next few weeks brought pain and misery like she had never experienced. Pier's men shacked her hut, destroyed everything they couldn't use, and burned it down. Her xierxu had been neutralized by a paralyzing venom, which Pier had joked was highly ironic. Her fame, money, and freedom was gone, everything she had accomplished to make for herself, was gone in a matter of minutes.

The eighteen year old was subjected to every sort of torture that Pier could imagine, with the exception of anything sexual. From time to time the villain would visit her, and lord it over her, sometimes striking her body with her own whip, his former whip, just as he had done to her when she had fallen in his hands the first time, so many times. "Did you really think I was so arrogant that I would strike an armored caravan, despite the rewards it would give me?" he asked, smacking her across the face.

"I should have guessed, once a coward, always a coward," she wheezed as he punched her stomach. Her face was full of bruises, brown and blue, a few green and gray. Her hair was at first tattered, and then shaved to the bass of her skull, Pier's personal insult at striking one of the few things she found she was prideful of.

"I never realized how pretty you were with such short hair," he said with admiring his handiwork.

"How sweet of you Pier," the woman spoke, inwardly smiling that it was making him irritable that he wasn't breaking her. "A true ladies man to the core."

"You should have killed me when you have the chance, you know?" he snarled. "I spent years tracking your movements, waiting for you to slip up. If you had stayed a pirate, I wouldn't have been able to lay a hand on you."

"I wasn't about to become the thing I hated the most," she spat.

"No, you'd rather waste your life and talents, by huddling away from humanity, trying to block out your dreams, running from me years too late to make a difference."

She rose an eyebrow. "You aren't making sense, you must be drunk."

He ran a finger over a slender shoulder, and smiled at her as she turned away. "Daddy told you to run, and you did, just a little too late."

Her mind raced to her dreams, as the man urged her to run as the ship was being attacked, and she had kept herself in the shadows, as he dropped dead from a knife wound, and was kicked into the water. "Father," she whispered. It was her father she was having dreams about.

"It is very interesting what a mule tiger's weight in gold and silver, paid to a dream walker, can do to a person's mind, isn't it?" he smiled, inching closer to her. He kissed her lips, and then pulled to her ear. "I was the one who convinced the Fire Nation that your village was on the verge of revolt," he said. "I hoped to have you all flee and allow me a greater profit of slave labor, but I suppose one slave like yourself is worth the whole weight of a mule tiger."

She looked stunned and lurched at him, only the ropes tied to her wrists and ankles making her into a human "x" stopped her from attacking. "You son of a bitch," she hissed, under her breath.

"Actually she was," he chuckled. "But she was a tough old hag."

A large man with an iron red hot, shaped like a serpent approached the tent. "I don't intend to lose you again, Jun dear," Pier said with a chuckle. He turned to the man, "Both shoulders, should do it, if you feel interested, use a smaller one on her ankles, but best judgment be yours."

Pier walked out of the tent, smiling at the sound of Jun gasp, and mutter protestations, before a massive, high pitched shriek filled the valley where he and his men were camped, and the sound and smell of scorching skin could be heard floating out betweens cries of pain and sobs of agony. His eyes grew dark, and he crossed his arms.

"Liu," he snapped. A small, rat like person rushed up to him.

"The xierxu, kill it, skin it, and use the meat to feel our dear little angel's belly, it would be evil of us not to feed her, and just as terrible for us to break those two's connection and friendship. This way at they can be together forever," he cackled. "Well, until she the next time she need to use the bathroom that is."

Pier Gri walked away, feeling stronger with each cry of pain coming from Jun, knowing that his future was secure.

As a guard passed the large cave where the beast was being kept, he could hear a piercing scream come from inside, and not an animalistic one, but a human. The hulk of a man frowned and rushed inside, to see Liu knocked out, laying in a broken hump, and to the far back, the cage that held the beast was empty. He took a step back, and heard a guttural growl, followed by puffs of air as if something was breathing in. Something big, something massive, something really pissed off! He turned and collapsed as the xierxu's tongue struck him in the chest. It howled, and then dashed out of the cave, straight for the camp.

Chaos erupted as soon as the animal broke into the camp. Legions fell to its tongue, and its nose quickly picked up the scent of its partner. He dashed toward the tent, tore it up and looked down at a bruised but not broken Jun as she smiled up at him.

"Good boy," she said weakly. "Now, let's get out of here."

He tore the restraints from her, and she pulled herself onto his back, retrieving her whip, which Pier had left in plain sight, no doubt to taunt her. Off they went, passed the guards, passed the camp, with only cries of Pier and his men with torches in hand, coming after them.

The xierxu tore through the forest at top notch speed, dodging trees by just margins of an inch. Jun could feel a few splinters poke into her bare skin, and she grit her teeth, but she was determined to get to ignore them, everything counted on her getting passed this.

Pier and his goons soon took up the chase, and it was an exact replica of the chase three years earlier, except the xierxu and Jun were both older, more experienced, and Jun was wearing very little clothing this time around thanks to her former master. They raced for over an hour, and looked as if they might successfully get away, when the patch of ground they were on disappeared from their feet, and they fell.

The persuers stopped and looked down, glaring at the two beings stuck in the hole. "Never let your guard down, and never let your opponent get the upper ground, Jun, dear," Pier snickered. "You should have learned that lesson while spying on me all those years ago, instead of eyeing that whip all the time."

"But I did," Jun said with an odd, knowing smile. She whistled, and it was followed by another whistle closer by. New torches lit the landscape, nearly two hundred. Liu walked overhead, and looked down as a few Fire Nation soldiers followed him.

"There they are, captain," he said, "just like she promised us."

"Liu, what the hell are you doing?" Pier roared.

"You are the one who said to carefully screen those who wished to work for you," Jun said, twirling her whip. It snatched on a tree branch, and she shot up, followed by example by her partner. As soon as she landed, she kicked straight up, and caught her former master in his jaw, where a fist to his stomach, and blow to his knee took him down. Those that tried to protect Pier, were dealt with unmercifully by the xierxu, and the Fire Nation soldier's arrows.

Liu walked up, twirling the keys to the xierxu's cage in his fingers. "It took you a few days longer," he said to Jun, but it looks like you lived up to your promise."

The woman shrugged, ignoring the pain in her shoulders. "I thought I'd see what my old master was up to, if he had changed any."

"And," Liu asked.

"He's gained a few pounds, and lost some of his edge, but nothing else seems to have changed." She bent down and tied his wrists and handed him over to Liu, who was a sergeant in the Fire Nation Army, whom she had made a deal with just after the tavern incident, that she would lure the villain into a false sense of security by letting him capture her, and then bring his whole gang to justice.

Liu looked at his superior, who nodded, and he pulled out a large bag of gold. "Try not to spend it all at a tavern this time, Jun," he said with a grin.

"Whatever you say, dad," she crooned, and leapt up onto her partner with a laugh. "If there's any body else you'd like me to help capture, you know where to find me."

"Like the avatar, suppose?" Liu asked playfully.

She frowned and thought for a moment. The avatar had disappeared less then one hundred years ago, and no one knew if he had been reincarnated into the next cycle, or if he was a master of espionage. "Sure, you find a man or woman whose close to a hundred year old, and can use all four elements, and I'll catch them for you."

"Right after we take care of the fleet from the Southern Water tribe that just launched last week," the captain said with a smile of his own.

Jun chuckled and rode off into the night, her gold over her shoulder, her whip on her hip, her xierxu howling with hunger.  
"That's some woman," the captain said as he watched.

Pier felt both hate and admiration for her as she disappeared. "It sure is."

Okay, the story is over! Did you all like it? The ending of course takes place two years before the series begins, but if you read my clues, you'd know that. I might create a new Jun story, I kind of want to investigate her relationships with both Sergeant Liu, and perhaps future confrontations with Pier. What do you think? Review me, PM me, IM me if you see me on line (just know I use my sister's internet connection so its not always me, email me, what ever! LOL, just don't stalk me. Okay, bye bye. 


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